Political Quotes

“I know others are waiting, so I will make some brief remarks about something that is very important to me. I rise today to discuss S. 2087, the Medicare Protection Act. Over the past few years one of the things we have witnessed in the Senate is, unfortunately, an irresponsible few who are trying to turn Medicare into a voucher system and raise the eligibility age for benefits. This would not only have a catastrophic effect on seniors' health but also on their financial security. It would force seniors to pay more for their doctor visits and for prescription drugs. People in my State have figured this out. In fact, I recently got a little note from Philip of Jonesboro who said: ``Raising the Medicare eligibility age would shift thousands of dollars in costs to seniors and drive up premium costs.'' He got it exactly right. That is what it will do. That is what pretty much every study I have seen, at least, says it will do. In Arkansas alone, we have well over 500,000 seniors who depend on Medicare. I encourage all of my colleagues to look at the numbers in their States. My guess is everyone has a large number of seniors in their State and the seniors understand how vitally important it is that we protect Medicare.…”